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‘Mo Bele for Grenada’: A Culturally Relevant Approach to Honoring Our Ancestors Through Grenadian Folk Dance as an Offering for Education
No full textGrenada, located in the eastern Caribbean, is known as the Spice Isle or Greenz and is rooted in the cultural practices that are the essence of what makes a Grenadian a Grenadian. The island of Grenada is rooted in productive folk dances, song, and drumming that go back centuries; however, there is a lack of documentation of such practices on a scholarly level.
With this study, I have declared myself a Traditional Torch Bearer and acknowledge the role of being a Grenadian who has been honored with the job of passing down the traditions of my ancestors, community, and peers to those who are right behind me. I am the vessel carrying forth the traditions of my Grenadian culture which speaks to my entry into the problem and has led me to my inquiry sparking this research. This qualitative study described and explained how Grenadian Folk Dance embodies and how oral traditions inform and impact the personal, professional, and civic identities of dance education practices for contemporary practitioners.
Compartmentalized into two phases, I described in Phase I the experiences of five Grenadian dance pioneers as well as the original intention and function of Grenadian Folk Dance and its relevance to current practices. In Phase II, I carried out a qualitative phenomenological case study focusing on six secondary-level students who either attend or will eventually attend tertiary-level institutions on the island of Grenada. Both phases used one-on-one interviews to gather data about the participants’ experience with Grenadian Folk Dance Additionally, in Phase II, content artifacts and observations were used as supplemental data collection instruments.
As a result, Making Meaning and Identity, Resilient, Passion, Purpose and Pride, and Empowered were identified as themes in Phase I. In Phase II, the themes included Dance Course as a Living History and Reconnecting to Community; Identifying Value, Pride, and Informative Lived Experiences; and Supporting Positive Identity Development. The data analysis revealed how this study captured the entities of Ubuntu, the soil, roots, and trees, by highlighting how Grenadian Folk Dance embodies and oral traditions informed and impacted dance education practices for contemporary practitioners by building continuity, foundations, and cultural significance. Furthermore, the study highlighted how the artistic and individual practices of contemporary dancers are informed and improved through Grenadian Folk Dance pedagogical training
The Role of Sustainability in the Future of Art Education
No full textEducation for Sustainable Development (ESD) has emerged as a concept in education that aims to promote values, knowledge, and skills necessary for individuals to contribute toward a sustainable future. In recent years, I have grown increasingly interested in understanding the role of sustainability in the future of art education. In this interview-based study, I examined the insights and professional trajectory of five art educators and five scholars.
The narratives collected from the interviews and the supporting literature and documents formed a detailed profile of each participant that served as a framework for understanding their worldviews, backgrounds, and motivations. Aside the personal profiles that I was able to construct, I cross-studied the conceptualizations of the participants in (a) their definition of sustainability as a self-standing concept in art education, (b) their thinking about ideologies and paradigms of our time, (c) their thinking about the materials artists and art students use for expressive purposes, (d) the sustainability of our artistic and cultural practices, (e) the knowledge they highlighted that art educators need or desire, and (f) their opinions about the availability of resources and knowledge about art and sustainability to art educators
The Broadway Musical Production Vocal Coach: An Exploration
Full text linkProblem: Performing on Broadway is a challenging profession. Physical therapy is provided to help treat and prevent physical injuries. However, voice services are not typically provided, despite the grueling vocal demands placed on musical theatre performers.
Methods: This constructivist grounded theory study looks at the phenomenon of vocal coaching in Broadway musicals with the aim of understanding the role more thoroughly. There are three phases of this study. Phase one is a survey with actors who had a vocal coach provided to them during the run of a Broadway show. Phase two is interviews with people who have been production vocal coaches on Broadway shows. Finally, phase three is a survey with producers and general managers of Broadway shows. Each phases’ data was coded using constant comparison to identify themes based on in vivo and thematic coding.
Results: Three frameworks were constructed based on the data. The first identifies the skills required to vocal coach on Broadway. This framework could serve as the basis for curriculum development or could assist producers when hiring a vocal coach for a Broadway show. The second framework establishes the habilitation specialist as the leader of the voice team that also includes a laryngologist and a rehabilitation specialist. Performers could move between each specialist as needed. Finally, the last framework identifies the specific steps each voice team member plays as performers move from performance to medical care and back to performance. All three frameworks enhance our understanding of the role of the Broadway production vocal coach and will hopefully create pathways for more production vocal coaching in the future
Food Systems Countdown Initiative: Americas Baseline Report
No full textFood system transformation is central to meeting the Sustainable Development Goals (SDGs) by their 2030 deadline as well as to meeting the targets and commitments established in the three Rio Conventions on climate change (UNFCCC), the Convention on Biological Diversity (UNCBD), and the UN Convention to Combat Desertification (UNCCD). Meeting these goals is possible, but decisive and deliberate decisions are required to set countries, companies, and consumers on a more sustainable, healthy, equitable, and resilient path. Choosing those right actions requires rigorous evidence. This policy brief provides the Americas region with a snapshot of the current state of their food system, establishing a baseline understanding of key challenges and strengths across different food system dimensions
Food Systems Countdown Initiative: Europe Baseline Report
No full textFood system transformation is central to meeting the Sustainable Development Goals (SDGs) by their 2030 deadline as well as to meeting the targets and commitments established in the three Rio Conventions on climate change (UNFCCC), the Convention on Biological Diversity (UNCBD), and the UN Convention to Combat Desertification (UNCCD). Meeting these goals is possible, but decisive and deliberate decisions are required to set countries, companies, and consumers on a more sustainable, healthy, equitable, and resilient path. Choosing those right actions requires rigorous evidence. This policy brief provides the European region with a snapshot of the current state of their food system, establishing a baseline understanding of key challenges and strengths across different food system dimensions
Food Systems Countdown Initiative: Oceania Baseline Report
No full textFood system transformation is central to meeting the Sustainable Development Goals (SDGs) by their 2030 deadline as well as to meeting the targets and commitments established in the three Rio Conventions on climate change (UNFCCC), the Convention on Biological Diversity (UNCBD), and the UN Convention to Combat Desertification (UNCCD). Meeting these goals is possible, but decisive and deliberate decisions are required to set countries, companies, and consumers on a more sustainable, healthy, equitable, and resilient path. Choosing those right actions requires rigorous evidence. This policy brief provides the Oceania region with a snapshot of the current state of their food system, establishing a baseline understanding of key challenges and strengths across different food system dimensions
Advanced Simulation Techniques for Mineral Physics Under Extreme Conditions
No full textUnderstanding the behavior of Earth's lower mantle minerals under extreme conditions is crucial for elucidating the dynamics and composition of Earth's interior and similar exoplanetary environments. The extreme pressures and temperatures of Earth’s deep interior are challenging to replicate experimentally, making insights from methods essential. However, these simulations face substantial challenges such as complex phase relations, strong electron correlations, and computational demands.
To address these challenges, we employ advanced simulation techniques to investigate mineral behavior under such conditions. Specifically, we develop deep-learning potentials to analyze the elastic properties of key silicate perovskites in Earth's lower mantle, focusing on MgSiO₃ and CaSiO₃. Our study provides a comprehensive evaluation of the pressure and temperature dependence of elastic moduli in MgSiO₃ while uncovering ferroelastic behavior and shear modulus anomalies associated with the tetragonal↔cubic phase transition in CaSiO₃.
Furthermore, we expand our investigation to iron-bearing minerals, such as ferropericlase (Mg₁₋ₓFeₓ)O and Fe²⁺-bearing 4̄2d-type Mg₂SiO₄ (), which are critical to the composition of super-Earth mantles. By exploring the spin-state transitions of iron in these minerals under ultra-high pressures, we reveal their electronic structures and stabilities. This integrated approach connects the study of iron-bearing minerals and silicate perovskites, offering key insights into the behavior of these materials under extreme conditions and enhancing our understanding of Earth's interior and exoplanetary mantles
Forest dynamics and climate change: a multi-scale analysis of structure, degradation, recovery, and greenhouse gas fluxes
No full textThis dissertation examines the dynamics of tropical forest landscapes through a multi-scale analysis of forest structure, recovery processes, and climate mitigation potential. With tropical forests increasingly promoted as a natural climate solution, rigorous assessment of their recovery dynamics and carbon sequestration potential is critical for effective policy design. Through four interconnected studies combining remote sensing, local ecological knowledge, and greenhouse gas measurements, this research reveals key insights about forest regeneration across local to global scales.
The research employs NASA's Global Ecosystem Dynamics Investigation (GEDI) lidar data, thermal remote sensing from NASA's Ecosystem Spacebourne Thermal Radiometer Experiment on Space Station (ECOSTRESS), and multiple optical satellite datasets to analyze forest structure and function. Methods include classification of forest structural types co-produced with local ecological knowledge, spatial hierarchical Bayesian modeling of thermal stress patterns in degraded forests, machine learning and spatial hierarchical Bayesian modeling of water use efficiency trajectories, and mixed-effects gamma regression meta-analysis of greenhouse gas fluxes in recovering ecosystems.
Results from Chapter 1 demonstrated substantial structural differences between forest types, with mature forests showing 41% higher mean canopy height (29.40 m vs. 20.82 m) and 38% lower height variance compared to secondary forests. Chapter 2 revealed that forest degradation impacts canopy structure and thermal conditions, with burned forests showing sustained elevated temperatures that exceed critical physiological thresholds in 92.5% of sampled canopy area compared to 65.5% in intact forests.
Chapter 3 suggested that water use efficiency strongly influences biomass accumulation during forest recovery, with high-stress conditions resulting in 150 Mg ha⁻¹ lower biomass after 120 years of regeneration. The global scale meta-analysis in Chapter 4 showed that while regenerating forests release more nitrous oxide and absorb less methane than mature forests (11.29 ± 8.16 Pg CO₂e yr-⁻¹ ), the carbon sequestration benefits outweigh these greenhouse gas emissions across all studied biomes for at least 100 years post-recovery. These findings provide insights for tropical forest conservation and restoration strategies while contributing to our understanding of their role in climate change mitigation
Evaluation by dental professionals of an artificial intelligence-based application to measure alveolar bone loss
Full text linkBackground
Several commercial programs incorporate artificial intelligence in diagnosis, but very few dental professionals have been surveyed regarding its acceptability and usability. Furthermore, few have explored how these advances might be incorporated into routine practice.
Methods
Our team developed and implemented a deep learning (DL) model employing semantic segmentation neural networks and object detection networks to precisely identify alveolar bone crestal levels (ABCLs) and cemento-enamel junctions (CEJs) to measure change in alveolar crestal height (ACH). The model was trained and validated using a 550 bitewing radiograph dataset curated by an oral radiologist, setting a gold standard for ACH measurements. A twenty-question survey was created to compare the accuracy and efficiency of manual X-ray examination versus the application and to assess the acceptability and usability of the application.
Results
In total, 56 different dental professionals classified severe (ACH > 5 mm) vs. non-severe (ACH ≤ 5 mm) periodontal bone loss on 35 calculable ACH measures. Dental professionals accurately identified between 35-87% of teeth with severe periodontal disease, whereas the artificial intelligence (AI) application achieved an 82–87% accuracy rate. Among the 65 participants who completed the acceptability and usability survey, more than half the participants (52%) were from an academic setting. Only 21% of participants reported that they already used automated or AI-based software in their practice to assist in reading of X-rays. The majority, 57%, stated that they only approximate when measuring bone levels and only 9% stated that they measure with a ruler. The survey indicated that 84% of participants agreed or strongly agreed with the AI application measurement of ACH. Furthermore, 56% of participants agreed that AI would be helpful in their professional setting.
Conclusion
Overall, the study demonstrates that an AI application for detecting alveolar bone has high acceptability among dental professionals and may provide benefits in time saving and increased clinical accuracy
Engineered extracellular vesicles promote the repair of acute kidney injury by modulating regulatory T cells and the immune microenvironment
Full text linkBackground
Acute kidney injury (AKI) is a common and severe clinical condition. However, the underlying mechanisms of AKI have not been fully elucidated, and effective treatment options remain limited. Studies have shown that immune cells play a critical role in AKI, with regulatory T cells (Tregs) being one of the most important immunosuppressive lymphocytes. Tregs proliferation can attenuate AKI, whereas depletion exacerbates kidney injury. Given that endothelial cells (ECs) are the initial cells that interact with immune cells when they invade the tissue parenchyma, ECs are closely associated with immune reactions.
Methods and results
In this study, P-selectin binding peptide-extracellular vesicles (PBP-EVs) that target and repair ECs are engineered. Transcriptome sequencing reveals that PBP-EVs reduce the expression of inflammatory genes in AKI mice. Using high-resolution intravital two-photon microscopy (TPM), an increased recruitment of Tregs in the kidneys of AKI Foxp3-EGFP transgenic mice following PBP-EVs treatment is observed, as well as significant Lgr5+ renal stem cell proliferation in AKI Lgr5-CreERT2; R26mTmG mice. Additionally, PBP-EVs treatment result in reduced infiltration of inflammatory cells, pathological damage and fibrosis of AKI mice. Upon depletion of Tregs in Foxp3-DTR transgenic mice, we observe diminished therapeutic effect of PBP-EVs on AKI.
Conclusions
The experimental results indicate that PBP-EVs can promote the repair and regeneration of AKI by mitigating endothelial cell damage and subsequently modulating Tregs and the immune microenvironment. These findings provide novel insights and strategies for the treatment of AKI